The state of the Edmonton District in 1815.

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Editor's Introduction

In 1815, James Bird, the Chief Factor at Edmonton House, prepared a report on the conditions existing in his extensive district. Based upon the Indians who traded there, he estimated it extended from the Athabasca River in the north, to the Missouri River in the south, to the Rocky Mountains to the west, and to about the Alberta-Saskatchewan border to the east.

This report is significant for a number of reasons. For example, it records the fact that gardening was an important part of the fur trade activities. The gardens were not small; Edmonton harvested 2,300 cabbages, two hundred bushels of potatoes, and large quantities of carrots, turnips, wheat and barley. Bird makes comments about difficulty with growing wheat because of early frosts--a problem not resolved until the invention of Marquis wheat more than a hundred years later. Not being an agriculturist, he thought that much of the thick loam in the region was underlain by pure sand. Clay was not mentioned. He also makes the prairies seem like the Sahara desert.

Some of Bird's comments about the Indians reveal as much about him as they do about the Indians themselves. He criticizes the Plains Indians because they are "covetous, independent and alive to their own interests." Obviously he thinks they should be grateful to the trading companies for their presence, and particularly to his own Hudson's Bay Company. But instead, the natives went to the fort that offered the best prices, either the Hudson's Bay Company or the rival North West Company. "In short," he says, "these Indians form very little attachment to particular Houses or to particular Traders." He also chastised them for not spending more time trapping and for pursuing their own interests instead.

There was a belief at that time that the upper reaches of the Bow and Missouri rivers were rich in beaver, and traders were anxious to have access to the region. Bird suggests building a fort "near the Missouri" but he likely did not know that American trappers had already tried and failed. In 1807, just a year after the return of the Lewis and Clark expedition, Manuel Lisa, a merchant from St. Louis, went upstream and built a fort on the upper waters of the Yellowstone, and three years later, in 1811, the Missouri Fur Company had a post at Three Forks, just west of the present city of Bozeman, Montana. The Americans found the area rich in furs, and hoped to take out 24,000 beaver the first winter. (1) But, the trappers were not welcomed by the Peigans, who killed several of these Americans who had invaded their hunting area. This caused the forts to be abandoned, followed by the virtual cessation of activities during the war of 1812.

James Bird, the author of this report, was an important figure in the fur trade. Born at Acton, England, he joined the HBCo in 1788, and by 1793 he was in charge of South Branch House. Two years later he was transferred to Carlton House where he stayed until 1799 when he became chief factor of Edmonton House. The London office was pleased with his efforts in expanding the trade and in 1803 placed him in charge of all inland posts on the Saskatchewan. In 1816. Bird was temporary Governor of Rupert's Land when the sitting governor, Robert Semple, was killed at the battle of Seven Oaks. In 1821, with the amalgamation of the HBCo and NWCo, Bird took charge of the lower Red River district then retired to Red River Settlement where he became one of its leading citizens. According to his biographer, "'As a fur trader James Bird had been a key figure in the HBC's success in the Saskatchewan district." (2) On the other hand, the trader was described by his detractors as a self-centred, vindictive, jealous man whose "fancied slights and injuries" had clouded his judgement. (3)